PawSox 4, Knights 1: Pawtucket sweeps Charlotte to win Governors’ Cup

FORT MILL, S.C. — The Pawtucket Red Sox have taken the wildcard route all the way to the International League Governors’ Cup.

KEITH CANNON

FORT MILL, S.C. — The Pawtucket Red Sox have taken the wildcard route all the way to the International League Governors’ Cup.

The PawSox made the most of seven hits and Pawtucket pitchers, led by starter Nelson Figueroa, scattered seven Charlotte hits to take a 4-1 victory at Knights Stadium.

Players showered each other with beer and champagne in a raucous post-game celebration of the first I.L. championship for the PawSox since 1984. It was also the first sweep of a playoff series in Pawtucket history.

“We’re just a team that got hot at the right time,” Pawtucket manager Arnie Beyeler said. “Different guys showed up and did something big in each game down the stretch. We let everybody play, and they all produced. It’s great to see them win it all.”

The PawSox will play the Pacific Coast League champion (Reno and Omaha were tied 1-1 in their series going into Thursday’s play) in the Triple-A National Championship game in Durham, which is at 7 p.m. on Tuesday at Durham Athletic Park.

“That’s the icing on the cake,” Beyeler said. “The goal all along was to win the league (I.L.). This will be a fun, All-Star kind of thing. They deserve to be playing in the last game of the season.”

The PawSox cut off a Charlotte scoring opportunity in the first inning. Greg Golson doubled to left center with two out — the Knights’ only extra-base hit — and Seth Loman followed with a single to left. But J.C. Linares’ throw home erased Golson and ended the inning.

For the first six innings, Figueroa and Charlotte starter Scott Carroll took turns pitching out of trouble. Figueroa struck out five and didn’t walk anybody in his second effective outing of the postseason. The 38-year-old veteran was the winning pitcher in a 7-1 victory over Scranton/Wilkes-Barre in the semifinal playoff series last weekend.

“Figgy did a great job. We milked him the last time out — eight innings and more than 100 pitches,” Beyeler said. “So he might not have had his best stuff tonight, but he made a lot of big pitches.”

Big hits and big defensive plays also went the PawSox’ way, starting with a rally-squelching play from the outfield in the first inning. Charlotte’s Greg Golson doubled to left center with two out — the Knights’ only extra-base hit — and Seth Loman followed with a single to left. But J.C. Linares’ throw home erased Golson and ended the inning.

In the Pawtucket second, Danny Valencia led off with a single through the hole. One out later, Andy LaRoche doubled to left field, sending Valencia to third. Mike Rivera singled, scoring Valencia and moving LaRoche to third. After Ryan Dent walked, Che-Hsuan Lin lofted a sacrifice fly to right, scoring LaRoche.

Pawtucket loaded the bases with two out in the fourth. LaRoche was hit by a pitch with one out, Rivera singled, and one out later, Lin singled. But Carroll threw out Jeremy Hazelbaker on a come-backer to the mound to end the inning.

The Knights trimmed the PawSox lead to 2-1 in the fifth. Jared Mitchell singled, stole second and scored on Carlos Sanchez’ single to right.

But Pawtucket made it 4-1 with a two-run seventh. Lin reached on a throwing error by Charlotte shortstop Sanchez with one out and scored when Hazelbaker tripled into the right-field corner. Tony Thomas singled to drive in Hazelbaker.

“It was a different kind of series than the first one, where the first team to score lost,” Beyeler said. “We had to get some runs. It took us a couple of innings, but we responded after they scored on us.”

PawSox relief pitchers Will Inman, Jose de la Torre and Josh Fields each pitched a hitless, scoreless inning of relief to nail down the victory. Fields earned his first save of the playoffs.

The Knights advanced only two runners past first base in the last four innings. They had runners on first and third with no outs in the sixth after a single by Garcia and a throwing error by Pawtucket’s Valencia on a ground ball by Golson.

“That sixth inning was probably the key to the game,” Beyeler said. “Then the bullpen came in and pitched lights out.”

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